News Analysis: Trump's VP pick meant to draw staunch conservatives

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's choice of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his pick for vice president is a bid to draw more socially conservative voters to the Trump ticket in the presidential race, experts said.

Trump first made the announcement Friday via social media, tweeting out a message that Pence would indeed be Trump's running mate, after much media speculation and leaks to major U.S. media.

Pence brings to the table a sharp contrast to Trump, as Pence is much more subdued than the bombastic and flashy Trump, and has solid credentials among the Republican Party (GOP) establishment, and especially among social conservatives, experts said.

Indeed, many Republicans believe that Trump is not a true conservative on issues from the economy to foreign policy to social issues, and Pence is likely to be a positive impact on Trump's campaign, helping him unify the GOP.

"He helps Trump solidify the Republican base," Republican strategist Ford O' Connell told Xinhua.

"One of the things that Trump needs to do if he wants to win the election is to get about 92 or 93 percent of registered Republican (voters) backing him," he said.

Around eight in 10 Republican voters say they back the brash businessman, and overall the race against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is a dead heat, according to a New York Times/CBS poll released Thursday.

"For Republicans that are questioning Trump (the choice of Pence) helps instill confidence that Trump will govern reasonably as an agent of change," O' Connell said.

"It's going to be a tight race no matter what, but Pence helps give conservative bona fides to the Trump candidacy," he said.

Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that the pick of Pence is designed to help with a Republican base that is skeptical of Trump's brand of social conservatism, especially social conservatives.

Trump is not particularly conservative on social issues, nor is he particularly religious, and did not win over evangelicals during the Republican primaries.

In sharp contrast, Pence has been very conservative on many social issues such as abortion and gay rights.

"It is also a pick designed to bring someone with experience in government to the ticket, as Pence has experience as both a member of Congress and a state executive," Mahaffee said.

"Additionally, as governor of the state of Indiana, he represents the Midwestern and 'Rust Belt' states that Trump needs to hold or turn to the GOP to beat Clinton," Mahaffee said.

Trump's strategy was to bring someone with significant political experience to the ticket, and someone who could help shape Trump's campaign "in a way that appears more legitimate and presidential," he said, referring to the frequently heard criticism that Trump's manner is both brash and unfitting of a presidential candidate.

"In many ways (Pence) can represent a calm foil to Trump's bombastic approach to campaigning," Mahaffee said.

Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that Pence will help Trump with conservative Republicans who are uneasy about Trump's loyalty to their agenda, and potentially with fundraisers and legislators in Washington who like Pence very much.

"Trump wanted to pick someone who would appeal to the right and calm Republican nerves, and someone with experience and connections on Capitol Hill," he said.

But despite Pence's conservative bona fides, he may not make many inroads with independents in an election in which some analysts say those voters may well determine the election' s outcome.

Mahaffee said many of Pence' s policies are likely to hurt Trump' s outreach to moderates, independents and young people who are less concerned about social issues.

"Pence is infamous among them for his legislation that many saw as a thinly veiled license to discriminate against gays and lesbians," he said.

Pence's policies on HIV/AIDS, as well as his Congressional record, will be significant fodder for those who want to portray the GOP as being behind the cultural mood of young, urban, cosmopolitan Americans, he noted.

Zelizer said the pick of Pence could help Democrats mobilize the gay rights movement and other social movement activists, who regard Pence as a far rightist, to support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Endite